Richard Barrett (lawyer)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2010)

Barrett at a rally in Jena, Louisiana, September 2007.Richard Barrett (1943 – April 22, 2010) was an American lawyer, white nationalist, and self-proclaimed leader in the nationalist Skinhead movement. Barrett was a speaker and editor of the All The Way monthly newsletter. He was general counsel of the Nationalist Movement, which he founded in Mississippi.

Barrett was born in New York City, and according to his biography, his family moved away to avoid the influx of Jewish and Puerto Rican immigrants. He graduated from Rutgers University, later returning his diploma to a then-Marxist professor, Eugene Genovese, following infantry service in the Vietnam War. He graduated from Memphis State University Law School in 1974.

In 1968, Barrett served as executive director of the South Carolina branch of the American Independent Party, on behalf of George C. Wallace's presidential bid. He organized and chaired Youth for Wallace, and in 1969 he organized and chaired the National Youth Alliance (which later transformed into the National Alliance). In 1976, he was chairman of Democrats for Reagan, and in 1977 he served as judge-advocate of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

In 1982, Barrett published The Commission, a memoir advocating the resettlement of "those who were once citizens" to "Puerto Rico, Mexico, Israel, the Orient, and Africa." Contending that non-whites, especially blacks, were inferior: "The Negro race... possess[es] no creativity of its own [and] pulls the vitality away from civilization."[1] He advocated sterilization and abortions of the "unfit".

In 1989 Barrett visited England. He attended the Annual General Meeting of the National Front political party where he signed "The New Atlantic Charter" pledging solidarity between the party and the Nationalist Movement.[2] He also linked up with Alan Harvey to support apartheid in South Africa.[3] The following year Barrett played host to Nick Griffin.[4]

In 1992, Barrett argued the case of Forsyth County, Georgia v. The Nationalist Movement before the United States Supreme Court. In 2004, Barrett organized a booth at the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi for the public to shake hands with Edgar Ray Killen and sign a petition of support. Killen, who did not appear at the aforementioned event, was later convicted of manslaughter for his role in the 1964 Ku Klux Klan-led murders of three civil rights activists. In an interview, Barrett predicted that the nation would rally around Killen.[5] Barrett represented Tennessee activist James L. Hart in 2006, when Hart was removed from the ballot by the GOP on the grounds of not being a bona fide member of the party due to his promotion of eugenics.[6] Barrett's efforts were not successful, and Hart was forced to run as a write-in candidate.[7]

Barrett was found dead in his home on April 22, 2010, in Rankin County, Mississippi, after reports of his house being on fire. Sheriff Ronnie Pennington said the death was being investigated as a homicide, as he was apparently stabbed. Pennington also said that the murder was not racially motivated.[8] Vincent Justin McGee, 22, was arrested on April 22.[9] Three more arrests were subsequently made.[10] In his confession, McGee alleged that Barrett had made sexual advances to him, sending him into a rage. [8]McGee also said that at the time he murdered Barrett, he was not aware of the fact that Barrett was a white supremacist. [11]

McGee said that he stabbed Barrett after Barrett reportedly dropped his pants and told McGee to perform oral sex. McGee was charged with capital murder, robbery, and arson, and faces a possible death sentence. [12]

PEARL, Miss. (CBS/AP) White supremacist lawyer and leader of the Nationalist Movement, Richard Barrett, was allegedly stabbed and beaten to death by a black neighbor who did yard work for him.

The Rankin County Sheriff's Department discovered Barrett's body Thursday after neighbors saw smoke coming from his house in a rural area of Jackson, Miss.

Rankin County Sheriff Ronnie Pennington said that preliminary autopsies showed Barrett, 67, suffered multiple stab wounds to the neck and had been bashed in the head. He also had burns covering 35% of his body; however, investigators believe that Barrett died as a result of the Wednesday night attack, and Thursday's house fire was an attempt to cover up the murder.

Pennington did not disclose a motive, but the suspect charged in Barrett's murder is a 22-year-old African American ex-con named Vincent McGee, who has tattoos linking him to the Vice Lords gang, reports the Clarion Ledger.

McGee had just been released from state prison in February after serving five years of a six-year sentence for simple assault on a police officer and grand larceny.

Deputies also arrested 42 year-old Alfred Lewis, Vincent's stepfather, who is being charged as an accessory after the fact, and 22-year-old Michael Dent and 38-year-old Vickie Dent. Both suspects are facing accessory after the fact and arson charges, says the Clarion Ledger.

Richard Barrett is the founder of the Nationalist Movement, a white supremacist organization based in Learned, Mississippi. Barrett had been able to attract a small but zealous following of aggressive skinheads, according to the Anti-Defamation League. He had a knack for publicity but little real influence, one expert said.

"Richard Barrett was a guy who ran around the country essentially pulling off publicity stunts," said Mark Potok, who monitors hate groups for the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center. "He really never amounted to any kind of leader in the white supremacist movement."